Posted December 14th, 2009 by Karl
Trade shows are a great way for a small business to get their name recognized and to build their customer base. The key to a successful trade show exhibit is being organized and planning ahead. A trade show can help promote your product and allows you to reach a large group of potential customers.
You want your exhibit to stand out above the rest. You want people attending the show to come into your area to see what you have to offer. Your tradeshow displays have to be eye-catching and draw people into your space. Contests, giveaways and promotional gifts are all good ways to get your name recognized and to get contact information from your target audience.
Use contests to lure people in and to get useful contact information. You can set up a grand prize that draws people into your trade show exhibit. You can also give secondary prizes that will cost less but will show your appreciation to your tradeshow guests. If you use secondary prizes such as t-shirts or ball caps, your company name will continue to be seen after the tradeshow is finished.
Your tradeshow display should stand out above the rest too – it has to! Try to make the best of your location on the trade show floor. Hanging display banners are a good way to get your company’s name seen across a trade show floor. Your displays and marketing materials should be of high quality to give your company a professional look. One of the best ways to get people interested in your product is to have demonstrations and hands on interactive displays.
You can have the best display and promotional gifts at the trade show, however, if you do not get out there and interact with the potential customers you will not be successful. Interacting, holding meaningful business conversations and giving out informative answers about your product will go a long way in helping to build customer relationships.
Posted November 4th, 2009 by Karl
There are more and more businesses finding out that doing a trade show is a good medium for bringing in new customers and also attracting media attention. The downside is that exhibiting at a trade show can be expensive due to the cost of space, marketing materials and displays costs. Not to mention, airfare, hotel costs and meals which could all take a toll on a small businesses budget.
There isn’t one particular item or thing that will guarantee a successful trade show. It is a combination of things that will give you the advantage over others who did not plan ahead. The first thing is to check out the trade show you are interested in attending and making sure it is one that your target market would attend.
You don’t have to have a big flashy display to attract potential customers. You will want to have a display that depicts your products and services in an attractive and professional manner. You also want to make sure that you have plenty of marketing materials to take to the trade show. To get the most out of the trade show you should send out mailings and fliers to customers and vendors before the show inviting them to come see you there. You should also make sure you promote the trade show on your website.
You can use promotional gifts or giveaways to attract people to your exhibit. You can also use drawings or prizes to lure in potential customers. One of the main keys to a successful show is to have informed and professional looking staff on the floor in your exhibit. You want people who are friendly and knowledgeable about your products to be able to close the deal. After the show is over you want to make sure you are following up on leads as soon as possible while the person is still interested.
As you can see there are many things that have to be done to help you have a successful trade show exhibit.
Posted July 15th, 2009 by Karl
It is a given fact that not everyone that attends a trade show will be a prospect for your product or services. The key to success is being able to tell the difference between the two. When you can spot prospective prospects you won’t waste needless time and energy focusing on the wrong people. People who attend trade shows can be broken down into three groups.
The first group is the people who came to buy and are ready to order. These are the type of people you want to spend quality time with. The second group is people who are interested but need more information. By knowing this type you can give them the information they are looking for instead of just handing them some marketing material, hoping they will look at it.
The last group is the not qualified or not interested people. If they seem like they don’t need or want your product, you should move on to other prospects. You shouldn’t spend needless time trying to convince them, just be polite and move on.
Now that you are aware of the different groups of people it is important to draw the first two groups into your booth. Your display should be the key factor to getting the right people into your booth. You want signs and displays to clearly and effectively tell what your company is all about. So people walk into your trade show booth knowing what it is you are selling. It is a waste of time to stand in the aisle dragging people in that are not really interested.
Besides having an appealing signs and displays, product presentations can draw in large crowds. During your presentations sprinkle in trivia about your industry to make people interested in what you do. By the end of your presentation you should be able to tell who genuine prospects are and the people who are not. Keeping the above information in mind will help you to offer your products to people who want to know more about your product and not waste time with the others.
Posted June 5th, 2009 by Karl
The key to success at any of trade show is careful strategic planning. If you want to maximize your return on your investment you have to be prepared and plan ahead. The first step is to know what events or conferences are happening in your area. You want to look for the type of events that your specific target market would attend.
You can talk to your current customers about which events they attend. You can ask other people in your network which trade shows have been successful for them. There are also trade show directories available. Another good source of information is your local chamber of commerce or other business organizations.
Once you have found the trade shows you are interested in you can request to see a past list of vendors or attendees if they are available from the show sponsor. Most of these shows have websites where you should be able to gain the information. You can use this information to see if the lists of past vendors are in the same industry as you are. This information will tell you if this is the right show that your potential buyers would be attending.
By looking at trade shows past events you will be able to determine if this show would draw in the type and number of prospects you want. Other key considerations include where the show is located, cost, and the sponsor’s reputation. Once you have determined which shows are right for your product you then sit down and write a detailed plan and checklist. If you are organized from the get go you can make sure the trade show is a success and brings in many prospects and new customers.
Posted May 14th, 2009 by Karl
I can’t help myself – I know this blog is about practical hints and advice on product promotion and matters trade show but there comes a time when you just have to let your hair down and say, “To Hell With It! I’m gonna have some FUN!!”
Do you really want to know what the best way is to get attendees to loiter around your booth – a BOOTH BABE!
Obviously it doesn’t work so well with female attendees, but then sometimes it does, but a class 1 method of grabbing attendee attention is a hot looking woman wearing very little:
Sex does not sell!
What sells is conversation leading to an agreeable deal and signatures on paper with a check in the mail.
That said, sex starts a lot of the conversations leading to a deal so who’s splitting hairs – perhaps it’s time for another babe pic 
Before the femi-nazis start mailing in with demands for my head on a stick think about this – the Booth babes I come across and have hired are smart cookies – they know what they are there for and they are great at working the crowd and guests. A good looking booth babe maybe what you are thinking when you hire them but in truth, sacrifice some of the looks for those that can hold a good conversation and are prepared to learn about your business so they can relate this to stunned attendees standing with a jaw on the floow and staring at some cleavage.
What the heck – here’s another babe pic and if you want more, check out Booth Babes – enjoy!
Posted January 20th, 2009 by Karl
2009 has provided me with a very busy start so apologies for neglecting to post until now.
The trade press is awash with news on dropping trade venue numbers and there are also some heavy weights moving around as they seek to position themselves both for the recession and the recovery.
I have a meeting tomorrow with my marketing team and we are finalizing the 2009 bookings and filling up the odd gaps and opportunities in the calendar and we are all amazed at the dropping prices.
NOW is definitely a great time to grab bookings at prices which are a fraction of what we paid last year – so intent are we that the proposed second event team have gone from a substitute, “fill some of the gaps in the schedule” outfit to a fully funded profit center in their own right.
It is not just the venues that are offering excellent deals – and they are really offering excellent value now – but also the ancillary suppliers. We initially planned on using the older trade show display material and collateral for the second team but after looking at the offers and discounts being touted by all of our existing suppliers and new ones banging on the door we decided to go through a formal budgeting and quotation process to outfit the new guys.
I haven’t been directly involved but have had the numbers and summaries emailed through to me and the numbers do look outstanding – we are equipping our second event team for less than 30% of the cost of our primary event team who we refitted completely this time last year!
The big issue is what is going to happen to the attendee numbers at trade shows – I expect there will be some decline but I also am not going to be surprised if there is not either – in any event I do not anticipate any decline on the scale of the retrenching currently being demonstrated by the venues and suppliers which is good news for us.
Posted December 31st, 2008 by Karl
The old year is about to go out and here we have Father Time delivering 2009 as a brand new baby.
The news is dire; the economy stinks, bail outs are being negotiated and pleaded for on the Hill in Washington and maybe we should just close Uncle Sam down for the year until 2010 comes around?
Rubbish!
2009 is gong to be the year of that great “R” word – RECOVERY!
Recovery always follows on from a recession!
You need to steer your business through the recession, that goes without saying but the key to long term success is not just surviving a recession it is positioning yourself so you are able to take advantage of the recovery which will materialize.
This is a fact of business life.
Now is a time of great opportunity for those who have the vision and are prepared to work diligently – trade shows and trade show displays provide an excellent way to forge new customer relationships and when your competition are cutting back on marketing and sales, this is precisely the time to be ramping your efforts up in order to take the market share that is being given up by your competitors.
Just as businesses are generally cutting back, you are in a fantastic position to take advantage of the deals and offers from display and accessory manufacturers as well as event managers. Business perception and sentiment may be negative but for the savvy operator, now is a time to be capitalizing on the economic situation and getting set for a great 2009.
Start 2009 by taking a good hard look at what trade show events have to offer you whether you are new to exhibiting or a vetaran; you are in a very strong position when it comes to negotiating the very best market terms for your marketing and sales effort so start 2009 off with a trade show bang.
Now it only remains to say goodbye to 2008; enjoy yourselves, don’t drink and drive and have a very prosperous and Happy New 2009!
Posted December 24th, 2008 by Karl
Happy Christmas to everyone, one and all!
2008 is winding down as we head for 2009 but there are still some things you can do in the interim between Christmas Day and the New Year Eve hangover, sorry, festivities 
The quiet time between these two holidays are an ideal time to take stock of what has happened in 2008 and complete your plans for 2009. The phones generally do not ring and sales targets for the year had better already have been met and exceeded as it is unlikely you are going to close that million dollar deal in the last week of the year!
By now, you will realize that trade show displays do work – by this I mean; “They make you money!”
Between now and the New Year when you get back into work mode, review your plans for the forthcoming year; tweak your targets and look very carefully at how you are going to achieve them.
In a time of recession, businesses run to what they know best and start cutting back on sales and marketing efforts. This leaves huge chunks of market share that is not being serviced by your competitors; as some businesses are withdrawing from exhibitions this means there is greater opportunity for you to step in and take the slot, except you are in a position to reduce the costs as event managers scramble to maintain their own revenues and market share.
The key issue to take away with you is that billions of dollars in sales and profits are still there to be made for those who are enterprising, hard working and prepared to go the distance required to win customers over.
Customers won in a recession tend to be loyal and profitable, and one thing that is always true of recessions is that they end – another “R” word comes into play here – it is called RECOVERY!
Posted December 20th, 2008 by Karl
The type of system you use for your trade show display will in large measure be determined by the type of product or service you are offering and to an extent, how you do business.
Think about this for a moment.
Some veterans of the trade show scene like a customer facing kiosk which allows the attendee to engage with the business at their own pace and without breaking the personal space of a sales rep on the booth; kiosks which are interactive are excellent at attracting people and providing the perfect ice-breaker for meaningful business discussions thereafter.
Others like the table top displays; these are amongst the cheapest available but nevertheless they do provide a very quick set-up and with the right people designing and producing them, they are eye catching. Some say they are not a good display presence if you are sitting behind them; personally I use table top displays but they are set at the rear of my display space and flanked by banner or customer stands.
I currently have an aluminum modular system which does take a little extra time to set up (not much more though) and the great thing about the modular system is the flexibility. I can change the layout to adapt to the space available at the venue and I have found this to be indispensable when it comes to taking what I refer to as the “discount” spaces at events; I frequently exhibit at tradeshows at the last minute and use this to grab excellent discounts on the normal pricing being asked for; the downside is I get offered all sorts of space sizes and frequently they are not the regular rectangle but some sort of triangular or rhomboid shape – no issue for my modular system though!
Whichever system you go for, and there are others aside from the ones I’ve mentioned already, think through the ides you have and the type of presence both you and your attendees are going to feel comfortable with.
Posted December 10th, 2008 by Karl
Before you step into trade show exhibiting you need to research and prepare; this is especially true if you are a first timer and looking at the wide range of events and kit for you to acquire in order to mount an impressive presence.
The fact is that you need not reinvent the wheel; all of the mistakes you can think of and many more you have no inkling about have already been made by the tens of thousands of businesses who already are using trade show displays to make billions of dollars of revenue every year.
The first thing you should be doing is attending trade shows and exhibitions but not as an exhibitor, attend them as a simple attendee!
The cost may be free or it may be a small fraction of the cost of renting space and investing in a display.
Firs of all, select a range of exhibitions you are interested in; choose a varying selection as a shortlist and visit them.
You are looking for two primary pieces of information; firstly, look at the venue and the attendance both by trade exhibitors and also by the number of attendees who are there – how many of each; what is the type of exhibitor and pay careful attention to their display presence; spot anything exhibitors are doing that makes then stand out from the crowd; who is attracting people and who are sitting around drinking coffee?
Learn with your eyes and ears and this will give you a whole host of ideas for you to assimiliate in your own effort and also, and perhaps more importantly, what you should not be doing!
The second thing you will be able to acquire is the actual experiences of exhibitors; for those who will spare the time, ask them how they are finding exhibiting at the event, what is working for them and why did they choose this particular event; ask them for their experiences and recomendations for other events that they exhibit at and more importantly, how much business are they generating from their activities.
Bear in mind, people only like to talk about their successes so you will need to treat some of the information with a pinch of salt but you will be getting first hand information from someone who has actually gotten their check book out and committed money to the project.